Saudi Arabia invaded Yemen in March 2015, vowing to reinstall former President Hadi in power. The Houthis, who ousted Hadi from the capital in the months before the invasion, have expressed support for a unity government in which Hadi would have a figurehead position.

But that talk largely stalled when Hadi wouldn’t accept a position short of the unlimited power his previous post held, and while the Saudis were said to be working on him at one point, nothing’s coming of it in months, and there’s been no new talking since.

While the Saudis expect to be able to eventually conquer the whole country, it’s not clear that they can really keep Hadi in power, and sooner or later the promise of free election is going to come up again, which once again raises the possibility of Hadi being ousted in favor of someone less pro-Saudi.

Of course the Saudis would be perfectly happy with one person or family having absolute rule over a country. Yemen is an unruly Saudi colony. We should be fighting there, but we are on the wrong side. We should support self-rule and free elections.